The year was 2011. After a long and successful run, Nintendo’s Wii console was finally winding down and fans turned their hopeful eyes to the horizon, just over which rested a promising new platform called the Wii U. Nintendo’s E3 2011 presentation received plenty of hype due to the unveiling of the new hardware, but the company also had millions of fans to please that still weren’t quite ready to retire their Wii consoles yet. They, of course, had Zelda: Skyward Sword to look forward to in the fall, but aside from that and Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, the Wii’s upcoming lineup was looking rather disappointing considering that third-party support had all but vanished and Nintendo itself was clearly moving on. Nintendo fans in Europe, however, had one more notable release to look forward to that would be coming later that summer: Xenoblade Chronicles.

In the wake of considerable doubt that it would ever leave Japan’s shores, the sprawling JRPG from Monolith Soft had been confirmed for Europe in March, with Nintendo of Europe picking up the tab for publishing duties. Though it was rather niche at the time, the universal acclaim, ambitious scope, and developmental talent around Xenoblade elevated it to an almost mythical status in the gaming community, and pairing this perception with the light release schedule for the year ensured that there was a lot of buzz around a game that – perhaps only a year prior – would’ve come and gone with hardly much fanfare.

European fans were understandably excited, but then there were the North American fans. They, too, were pumped by the March news, because certainly it had to mean that Nintendo of America would be making a similar announcement. Nintendo had gone to all the trouble of translating this huge RPG into English, so it stood to reason that the company would want to make back as much on the investment as possible.

And yet Nintendo’s silence was deafening. Any mentions of Xenoblade would be either ignored or met with the ol’ “no comment”. Not only did Nintendo of America seem wholly uninterested in bringing Xenoblade over, but it even went to the extent of actively suppressing awareness of the release, as evidenced by one Nintendo of Europe marketing manager remarking how they wanted to show the game off at E3, but were specifically asked not to by Nintendo of America.

At this point, the fans had a choice: they could either do nothing and allow their window of opportunity to pass, or they could try to do something about the decision that had evidently been made. Enough of them went with the latter option. Challenged by Nintendo’s dismissal of the release and eager to play it for themselves, North American fans banded together in a grassroots effort to get the company’s attention in a movement that came to be called Operation Rainfall.

The movement was centred around three titles, with the other two being The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower, and it was impressively organized. Thousands of fans came out of the woodwork to participate in a series of letter-writing campaigns and online demonstrations – such as getting Xenoblade to the number one spot on Amazon’s multiplatform pre-order list – designed to make it all but impossible for Nintendo to simply ignore the issue any further. This went on for months. Even as the movement gained some substantial attention from gaming media, Nintendo continued to stonewall in the hopes that the fans would let it go. They didn’t. And though it seemed unlikely, Nintendo finally caved about six months after the formation of Operation Rainfall. Xenoblade then came to North America early in 2012 as a limited run, GameStop exclusive, and the rest is history.

And you know what? The fans were right to fight for this game. Even now, Xenoblade Chronicles still stands as one of my favourite RPGs, simply because of how effectively it modernized the JRPG formula while still keeping things relatively traditional. You still had the tired ‘chosen one’ plotline, but the premise of everything taking place on the back of two gigantic, dead titans led to some truly fascinating plot points. The massive open-world environments that it encouraged players to explore and the hundreds of quests contained within gave it an MMO-like feel, but the tedium was drastically cut back with small quality of life features that streamlined progression. The Final Fantasy XII-esque battle system proved to be both challenging and deep, while Shulk’s future sight abilities added some interesting wrinkles to the pacing.

And though the graphics certainly appeared a bit, ahem, simple if you took a closer look, it’s tough to argue that Xenoblade didn’t have quite a few awe-inspiring moments as more of its surreal, wide-open environments were shown off. Truth be told, I wasn’t this awestruck by a game’s world until I first got my hands on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild which, surprise surprise, owes much of its overworld map design to none other than Monolith Soft.

Today, the Xenoblade franchise has essentially become a staple of Nintendo’s ongoing release schedule. Not only did the original Xenoblade Chronicles receive a re-release as a New 3DS exclusive, but it’s also getting an HD remaster that’s due out for the Switch this year. The series is important enough that Nintendo decided to greenlight and release a second game, Xenoblade Chronicles X, on the Wii U in an attempt to turn around the narrative surrounding the then-rapidly declining platform. It’s important enough that Nintendo then decided to release another sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, two years later as the final release from the company for the Switch’s inaugural year. It’s important enough that Sakurai decided to give Shulk a spot on the roster for Super Smash Bros., with the character appearing in both Smash 4andUltimate.

What used to be a series that Nintendo thought nobody would be interested in has now become something that’s carved out a passionate and, most importantly, growing fanbase. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ended up selling 1.7 million copies as of last June, making it the best-selling release so far, and sales of the later released Torna: The Golden Country DLC expansion also exceeded Monolith Soft’s expectations. Sure, Xenoblade may never be posting Mario Kart numbers on the sales charts, but it’s more than proven that it has something to offer that fans all over the globe want more of. Aside from Splatoon, I’d contend that Xenoblade has shown itself to be the next most significant new IP from Nintendo this decade.

The key thing to take away from all of this, however, is that it demonstrates the power of the fan community when they can all agree on something. If Operation Rainfall had never been formed and North American fans never made as much noise as they did, Xenoblade Chronicles likely would’ve become little more than a footnote in Nintendo’s long and storied history. It wouldn’t have been forgotten, but it would always be that weird ‘hidden gem’ that some (European) people would talk fondly of when remembering the Wii. It is because of that initial fan campaign that the original Xenoblade went on to become the influential success that it did, and as a result, any subsequent wins for this series in the years to come will also be a direct result of that dedication. I think it’s critical that we remember this, because it’s easy to fall into the mindset that the voices of the fanbase fall on deaf ears. Believe it or not, they don’t.

I suppose that’s what makes Xenoblade Chronicles (arguably) my favourite game of this past decade. Not only was it an utterly stellar game based purely on its own merits, but the grassroots campaign that sprung up around it was something that I had never seen before and still haven’t seen since. Xenoblade Chronicles was a once-in-a-decade game for many reasons, then, and it has me wondering if such a thing will occur again in these next few years. At the very least, I know I’ll be there on day one when Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition launches later this year, and my hope is that Monolith Soft will continue to nurture this series as the years roll by.

Mitch has been a fan of Nintendo ever since he got his start on the GBA in 2005. When he's not busy playing games or writing, you can find him down at his local MMA training facility learning how to punish the unrighteous.

This game is incredible! My wife and I played this our first year of marriage and we are super excited that the Definitive edition is coming right about our 9th year! We also now have a kiddo who will enjoy seeing Shulk and his adventure.

Have the original Wii version in my closet and the game backed up on Dolphin. 1080p @60fps with AA cranked up and HD texture pack - looks incredible on it - except nothing you can do to fix the faces (well, you can buy the Switch version)

This game really took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it anywhere near as much as I did. It's a shame X turned me off the series, I didn't like that one at all despite it being the Wii U game I was looking forward to the most. It's up there as one of my biggest disappointments in gaming. I disliked it so much that it has so far put me off buying XC2, even though I know that's closer to the original than X. I will get the XC remake though so perhaps by the time I finish that, I'll be as hyped to play XC2 as I once was XCX.

I have this game on the Wii and I never opened it up to play but I will buy the remastered or whatever is coming later this year and try it out. Also, I am so happy that the Switch is getting so many good games coming out for it. Yay, for backlog. :/

And the funny thing is, the first time I played it I stopped after 15 hours when you finally get to leave the first village. About a year later, possibly when X was announced, I started it over, and the first 15 hours were still lame, but boy howdy did it pick up after that.

Guar Plain is my 2nd all time favorite video game song after 1 Winged Angel.

@Agramonte I wonder if the Switch version will be as good as the Dolphin version b/c now you're tempting me to replay it. And I've always thought about building a Bionic Wii like @JaxonH has. Maybe a nice family project for my kids and I over winter break.

This puppy runs any game... any game, at 4K 60fps on Ultra settings. Dolphin runs any GameCube or Wii game in 4K without a hitch.

Steam Controller is my new fave controller, and has gyro. Tired of playing games on other systems without gyro. No reason to game on anything other than PC and Switch now. 3rd party games offer gyro on Switch, and I can map it to PS4 or Steam controller for any game on PC. Best graphics + gyro on PC, hybrid play + gyro on Switch.

This is my answer to GCU expiring in 60 days. Migrating over to the master race. Steam sales will more than make up for GCU. And no more splitting up library among 4 different platforms.

I enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles 2 more, but Xenoblade Chronicles is still a great game that also helped me get into the Xeno- universe and other Monolith Soft games as a whole. I'm happy to see not only the fan base growing but Monolith Soft themselves, making me even more excited for their prospects in the future.

This game takes my personal pick as Game of the Decade. I wasn't around for the fan campaign or any of the buzz around the game, so it flew under my radar. I saw one of my friends playing it and thought it looked boring as sin initially. Then 2015 rolled around. With Shulk appearing in Smash 4 and him being one of my favorites in the game, I decided to check out the New 3DS version when that system came stateside. I couldn't put the game down. I kept wanting to complete every sidequest I saw, but I was super invested in the story and characters. I was legitimately shocked how much I enjoyed the game and since then, I've been hooked on Xenoblade as a series. Xenoblade X made immensely satisfying gameplay at the cost of a decent story, and Xenoblade 2 brought the story back with a bit less interesting gameplay, but overall, the entire series has been one of my favorites. I'll be buying and eagerly playing the remaster when it comes out this year and can't wait to see where the series goes from here.

I want to get this game and I want to enjoy it but for the life of me, JRPGs just look and play so unappealing. It's too bad because I want to be part of the experience and like a game that, by all accounts, was so expertly made. Maybe some day it'll click for me, at least I hope so.

@fafonio Yeah, it just never grabbed me at all, the original had me hooked within the opening half hour. 3 times I gave it a good go and I put a lot of hours into it but it got to a point where I realised I just wasn't enjoying it. The original felt more focused with a clear goal to aim for,the story was better and the characters easier to get attached to. X for me, felt too open and unfocused for its own good, the story was really cheesy, to the point it was making me cringe and I didn't enjoy playing as a custom avatar. It was a real disappointment for me, as like I said I'd been really hyped for it since it was first revealed and bought it on day one.

@JaxonH My laptop’s only a GTX1060 and quad core i7-7700 with 16GB RAM but I was amazed just how well some games ran in 4K. VR also works great, although most games make me unbearably sick. Mario Kart Double Dash is really quite cool and F-Zero GX is a boke-fest.

Hoping I can get into the HD remaster, I tried playing it on 3DS and I just felt like I couldn't get into it too much. After enjoying XBC2 so much hoping a second look is going to make this much better now.

@Ryu_NiiyamaThe only question going through my mind is, why I didnt do this sooner. I had alot of issues with my precious PC, and while there's still much higher maintenance and problem solving involved for PC in general, everything seems to run fine on this new build. Once I learned I can map gyro to every single game, and once I learned I'm better with a Steam controller than an actual X1 or PS4 controller (just takes the right config, which there's official configs from devs and a mountain of community configs for every game, available with a simple press of the Steam button while in game) I dove headfirst and am not looking back.

Then it dawned on me that I wont need to buy PS5 or Xbox Series X. Especially between Switch and PC getting such a vast majority of games now.

Some interesting things releasing in the coming year or two, GPU and CPU wise. Once Intel makes the jump to 10nm and Nvidia drops their new GPUs, and once AMD drops their high end Nvidia competitor, you'll have plenty of choice. Even if it's current products at a lower price.

@nessisonettOh ya. And I bet that thing crushes 1440p all day. Which tbh, 1440p is dang near as good as 4K. I can tell a difference from 1080p, but the difference between 1440p and 4k is pretty negligible, imo.

I have a save file with story mode completed in F-Zero GX, which unlocks the AX Cup from the F-Zero AX arcade game (which was based on suped up Gamecube architecture). Love that game. Love it.

This is my personal game of the decade. I cannot overstate how much of an amazing experience playing this over the span of 5-6 months in 2012 was.

But on top of that, the buildup to playing this game was a highlight as well. One of the craziest things to happen in the Nintendo side of things this decade, for me, was when people got onto this site's very own forums to ask people to help with Operation Rainfall, and I just casually ended up going along with it. Only to find, the very next day, that it is the talk of the entire gaming community. Just via the right circumstances, luck, and an incredibly slow Summer, Operation Rainfall was the talking point of gaming sites everywhere. More than any actual video game releases.

I think one of the reasons though was that 2011 was a really sad time to be a fan of Japanese video games, it felt like. Between certain companies trying way too hard to specifically appeal to the west to the point of alienating fans, Capcom cancelling every Megaman game it had in development, and this, it was not good. And on top of that, Nintendo was not the only one for not wanting to release JRPGs in North America. Tales of was seemingly at risk of staying in Japan by that point. SE didn't want to release DQ remakes or Bravely Default in America. Ni No Kuni was seemingly stuck in Japan. In hindsight, Operation Rainfall feels like it existed to disprove the assumed logic at the time that gamers outside of Japan didn't care about Japanese games anymore. And that is really what it felt like at the time, that everything Japanese that wasn't already a popular IP was considered to be incredibly niche.

A huge contrast to nowadays, where any Japanese game can somehow end up with some real success. For the best contrast, ask how people feel about From Software and Bethesda compared to 2011.

I've bought this game so many times.I have it on Wii disc version. I have it on cartridge for my New 3DS XL. I also bought it again when it became avalaible on the Wii U e-shop, just to be able to play it on the gamepad.And now that I finally own a Nintendo Switch (Lite, btw), I'm definitely going to buy its remaster (I'm so in love with the new models !).I'm planning to dive into Xeno 2 as well, off course.But later. Cause now I'm on... Xenoblade X on Wii U ! And boy, what a game this is. This NEEDS to get an HD port as well. Really.

@Agramonte Funny, I keep saying I don't spend enough time on NL any more to keep changing my icon, but then I change it anyway. This time was to match it up w/ my FB and twitter accounts. I really like that photo of me from my summer vacation last year at the Ripley's Aquarium in TN. Surf's up.

As for the Dolphin stuff, there's not that much I'd like to replay, but i'm going to have to replay Sunshine if they don't remaster it soon, I've been waiting for it since the Wii U came out. Darn lack of analog triggers, it just ain't gonna work right w/o analog triggers. I'm playing Astrobot Rescue Mission on PSVR now and it has some FLUDD like stages, brings back the memories. Though now that I think about it the PS4 touchpad is digital, so maybe Sunshine can work?

I agree with everything you said here but how did you not mention the phenomenal soundtrack? The soundtrack is a masterpiece in itself and is one of the key things that pushes Xenoblade Chronicles from merely excellent into the realm of timeless masterpiece.

If I count correctly, there are 22 different area themes (not counting day/night variations and the different variations on Colony 6), a dozen or so different battle themes, and a bunch of other songs that play during cutscenes. Out of this huge volume of music, there are many brilliant tracks, some others that are merely good, and no duds.

Xenoblade Chronicles is my favorite video game of all time. That said, I think Operation Rainfall was just awful. They were trying to get what they wanted by being rude to the people they wanted it from. I’m willing to bet Nintendo released Xenoblade in the Americas in spite of Operation Rainfall, not because of them.

Well I guess you had to do something with all of that money you were saving with amiibo going out of style and no new MH 3DS.

My kid bought 8GB of RAM for $20 and I got him an $88 GT 1030 for Christmas so our PC is a little behind yours. Still, everything we want to play on Xbox Gamepass on PC - 3 months for $1 - has been running, so we'll take it. Our monitor is only 21" 1600x900 so it's not like we're pushing things anyway.

So do you just have an apartment of unused stuff - I recall you spending about $800 on a portable gaming device recently - or you start your own eBay business? If your brother has any kids I suppose you could be the very nice uncle. But PC master race just makes you ahead of the curve, or at least on the front lines, PS Now and Gamepass means it's all on PC when you think about it. Well except Switch, but I can't see you giving up on Switchworld at work so easily. Enjoy it. Enjoy it all!!

How different does this feel than XBC2? Also " Nintendo of Europe marketing manager remarking how they wanted to show the game off at E3, but were specifically asked not to by Nintendo of America." LOL, I mean, if there weren't global plans for the release, it wouldn't make sense to show it at e3, would it? "Suppressing awareness" is kind of an exaggeration.

Great game. I enjoyed XC2 more, but it didn't have the impact the original did obviously. The original is why I bought a WiiU so I could play XCX. I did really enjoy that one as well. It's a great world to explore and put quite a few hours in just exploring. I will probably get this again on the Switch at some point

It's just a shame XC2 took the series backwards. The battle system wasn't quite as good, you had to backtrack for sidequests and the 'fan' treatment for female characters was cringeworthy compared to the strength of Melia and Sharla.

Xenoblade X needs a rerelease on Switch though. That had Transformers in.

I've no complaints about it being nominated for game of the decade because obviously it's well loved by many, but...

I tried, I really did try but couldn't gell with the battle system. The story engaged, I seemed to be doing OK but every time I met a mini boss I got leathered and had to go away to grind till I was overpowered.

My failing of course, though I don't know how or why. I managed fine with various DQs, Bravelys and FFS. But this? Nah.

Ah well. Can't enjoy all the games, but I'm glad it worked for so many people.

I missed out on the Wii original on account that I hadn't heard of the game at the time and didn't keep as many tabs on gaming news at the time. I tried tracking down the N3DS copy (new) last year for a decent price to no avail. I very nearly caved for the Wii U eShop version but held off; I am so, SO glad I waited.

I am determined to pick up the Definitive Edition on Switch later this year; if it's anything as epic as XCX (which I have played), I'm sure it'll be a fun ride.

One of my all-time favorites, easily. I’ll even disagree that it has a “tired ‘chosen one’ plotline.” The beauty of Xenoblade’s plot is that it starts out looking like a chosen one/revenge story of the sort you’ve seen in any number of other JRPGs, but then turns those standard clichés on their ear and becomes something totally different.

Fell in love with this game after almost cancelling my pre-order because I wasn't sure if I wanted it. I'm so glad it went on to get more sequels and a part in Smash. Maybe the Golden Sun community should form an Operation Rainfall? Operation Rising Sun, anyone?